A List of Things To Do in Libraries Before You Die
by JoeBoBean
Summary: Nico Robin is a high flying A grade student in Archaeology and Ancient Studies and her favourite place is the Library with its stacks of musty old books and a comfortable silence that never asks her to give more of herself than she is willing to. That is until Roanoa Zoro walks through the old teak doors and makes her think of what life could be like outside of the books. AU


_AN: This story has been bubbling around in my brain for a while now and originally the only traction I had was the opening paragraph. I then managed to watch a solid arc of One Piece and I put some more meat on its bones, but once again months ago I lost footing. I'm hoping that I can give it a new lease of life and finish it. I love the care that Zoro takes over Robin when she first joins the crew in a real way not Sanji's "I love all women" way. Anytime Robin is in trouble he's there. He and Luffy always wanting to keep her safe. Since I'm a sucker for AU stories I decided to transplant the crew in to a University where they are all members of the Kendo team._

_Anyway please enjoy xxx_

_P.S I'll set the record straight I love long and complicated titles that don't make sense at the start or sometimes even at the end. It's not going to be an actual list, but each chapter or every other one will include something that Robin and Zoro do at the library and not all of them will be study related._

* * *

She loved the library on a Tuesday evening as it was always quiet. Everyone else had a life somewhere else on campus which meant that Nico could be alone. Not that she didn't like the library on a normal day; she liked the library anyway, all the books and the historic smell, she couldn't get enough of either of them. Her love of books and knowledge she had been told was genetic the only thing she really knew about both of her parents. It was just that Tuesdays made her love the place since it was like nowhere else on earth.

It wasn't at all because of the guy that came in every Tuesday evening like clockwork; Nico had to convince herself that he wasn't the reason she liked Tuesdays in the library at all.

It wasn't him; the guy with bright green hair or long legs, it wasn't him with the wrinkled brow and the tough guy attitude; it wasn't him at all that made her like Tuesday evenings the best out of the week.

She knew she shouldn't be attracted to him, she knew he was trouble; but then again she also knew she didn't have a good taste in men. Come on she had been with a right Croc before, so there really was no accounting for taste. Clearly that was some other issue of genetics and if she ever met her parents again she would beat them up about it.

As it was she was sat with another tome of ancient history in front of her when he walked through the door, as always his bag was slung over his shoulder making his shirt inch up his waist just enough to give a clear view of darkly tanned skin, he was stooped low because of his height in a way Nico thought must be uncomfortable. As always he quietly made his way to the back of the library where the economic books were kept and selected a few. He then turned and sat down opposite her, without acknowledging her existence. She knew that shouldn't be a good thing, or even something she liked, but she did like it… a lot.

She glanced up from her book and saw that he was pouring over a page filled with numbers, graphs and formula's all of which she didn't understand. His brow was furrowed in concentration, his right hand running tunnels through his hair as his left followed the passage on the page, and every so often he would pick up his pen and scribble things down manically and then resume his original pose. Robin kept glancing up from her book not really paying attention to it any more as she was so absorbed in the guy before her to care about what the ancient Aztecs did to their cattle, if that was even what she had been reading for the last half hour. She quickly looked up to the clock behind his head and held in a sigh he was going to leave soon it was almost eleven.

"You got somewhere to be today?" a deep voice asked that sent shivers down her spine and Nico looked at the guy in front of her a little shocked,

"No why do you ask?" Nico replied hoping her voice wasn't as high pitched to him as it seemed to be to her,

"You keep glancing at the clock, normally you sit here so absorbed in your book that you never look at the time tonight it seems like you can't pull your eyes away." Nico felt herself blush and looked away from his eyes that were burning her like two coals.

"It's not that," she muttered looking back at her book,

"Ah," he said and went back to what he was reading, "I'm Roanoa Zoro by the way," he said offhandedly turning the page he was reading.

"What?" Nico asked knowing that she sounded less than lady like,

"My name…" He said slowly as if talking to a slow and possibly crazy person, "I thought I should introduce myself, its good manners after all. If you want someone to introduce themselves you introduce yourself first." Nico looked back to the tanned face that she thought about every waking moment that she wasn't around it and saw a smile curve his lips. "So I'm Roanoa Zoro, but people just call me Zoro, I feel that after spending so much time together we should get acquainted. You did say you had no where better to be right?" Nico stuttered over her reply,

"Nico Robin, but like you most people call me Robin and no I have no where better to be, but at eleven o'clock you always leave. I thought you were about to move." She felt her cheeks flame under the hooded stare Zoro gave her across the table, "Not that I pay that much attention to you." She added before staring at her book in shame. To her surprise he laughed and it made her stomach flip, it was a rich sound that made his eyes crinkle with delight.

"Well at least I don't feel so foolish now," he said with a grin. Nico blanched as she shut her book and made a move to leave the library before he embarrassed her more. As she turned to go she felt a warm hand envelope her wrist and turn her gently away from the door. "I didn't say that to make you run," he said his voice lower in register than before, with an oddly endearing tone to it, "I've been trying for the last month to get up enough courage to talk to you." Nico felt her jaw drop and his lips quirked up into a grin once more. "I know what you're thinking," he said with a shrug.

"I'm not so sure you do..." Nico replied levelly.

"I think you are thinking: why would an athletic guy like me; be worried about being rejected by a beautiful woman like yourself..." Nico shook her head as she took her seat again with Zoro's hand still held loosely around her wrist; Nico cleared her throat before she spoke.

"I was thinking why you would take months to talk to me... I'm far from interesting."

"Yet here I sit each and every week when there are spare tables and desks everywhere in here." Nico had never thought about that and now as she glanced around; she realised that he was right.

"Why?" she asked as she smoothed her hand over the textured leather of the textbook she had been feigning to read.

"I'm a masochist." He said simply with a shrug, "It didn't help that when the rest of the kendo team found out I had a crush on you they told me not to bother because an ice queen can't melt. It was a challenge I personally had to take on." He smirked at her from under the unkempt fringe of his mint green hair.

"Ice queen?" she asked again and let out the breath she had been holding in. "I think I would be insulted if it weren't the least insulting thing they had called me."

"Or if you cared what they thought?" Zoro asked with a perception that caught Nico off guard. "But you do care, that's the problem." He continued and Nico felt her eyes water, "You act as if it doesn't bother you when they say these things about you, but you have this lonely look in your eyes as if you wished they knew that what they saw was not who you were. Yes you were Miss All Sunday and yes you dated the head of a teenage gang, but deep down inside you aren't the person you claim you portray." He squeezed her wrist lightly before letting go, "You are something infinitely more beautiful."

"Have you really been studying economics when you come in here or have you been studying me?" she asked incredulously as she wiped the single tear from her cheek.

"Would you believe me if I said it was a little of both," he replied giving her a hot once over with his eyes. She didn't know why, but it made her laugh, which in turn made him smile.

"There you are Zoro!" A loud and brusque voice called across the library before an almighty shush rang out from all the others that were hiding somewhere in their volumes.

"Ah Luffy," Zoro said in a calmer and lower tone, "What is it?" he asked and Nico turned to see a skinny boyish looking guy standing in front of a group of 3 other people and what looked like a Reindeer mascot. The boyish looking one called Luffy looked around in what could be described as awe before he looked back at Zoro.

"I just wondered where you had vanished off to, since you hadn't come by tonight, Nami said you would be here so we thought we would visit." The way in which Luffy said 'we' told Nico that it wasn't the rest of the group's decision they had all followed Luffy's lead.

"Ne ne Zoro," a tall red headed girl said, "Did you finally talk to her then?" she asked nodding at Nico. When Nico looked to him he blushed a little before he nodded.

"Erm," he said scratching his head as he looked anywhere, but at her. "Robin-san these are my friends from the kendo team, the big loud one is Luffy our captain,"

"Yosh!" he replied giving her a faux salute,

"The lanky love-cook behind him with the stupid curly eyebrow is Sanji," She looked towards a blond haired man and he came forward to kiss her hand while glaring at Zoro, who was glaring at the blonde man in return.

"Robin-chwan," he said in a grating sing-song voice, "If you ever need anything that marimo-moss head over there can't provide you with, please come and find me." Nico didn't really know how to respond to that so gave the barest acknowledgement with her head.

"Who are you calling Marimo-moss head?" Zoro growled and in response Sanji put a cigarette in his mouth while flipping his friend off, Zoro scratched his head again, but chose to ignore the gesture. "The girl that keeps looking at you as if you aren't real is Nami,"

"Hai!" she said with a grin, "I'm glad that Zoro finally got up the courage to talk to you." Then she came forward and clasped her hands around Nico's, "We should be the best of friends." Then she let go without letting Nico respond.

"The one with the long nose is Usopp, be careful he lies all the time,"

"No I don't!" he said indignantly,

"Yes you do!" They all replied in unison only to receive another shush from the library occupants. To that Usopp just smiled sheepishly and nodded at her.

"The guy in the back dressed as a Reindeer is Chopper; he only takes the costume off for class so I am yet to see him."

"Pleased to meet you," Nico said softly and got a giggle in response followed by,

"Being nice to me won't make me happy you mean, mean person." All the while he clapped and all Nico could think to say was,

"He looks happy."

"Ah," Zoro replied, "He does that a lot, no one knows why."

"Oh," was all that she said back as she glanced down at her book feeling more than a little over exposed.

"So are you coming to karaoke?" Luffy asked punching Zoro in the shoulder making him grunt.

"I was thinking about skipping out on it today..." Zoro said glancing up at Nico,

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Luffy said laughing while punching Zoro again, "I get it!" He winked at his friend and then turned to the group behind him. "To _The Going Merry_ we go people; Zoro will not be joining us tonight." With that they left all the while Sanji was screaming some unintelligible rubbish of being in love with Nico while Nami watched them with a grin on her face.

"I'm sorry about them," Zoro said as he rubbed his chin nervously. "I would say they aren't always like that, but it would be a lie." Nico shook her head with a smile,

"It was fun." She stated plainly with a gentle curve of her lips and Zoro almost bit his, "People don't usually talk to me so it's nice when people do." She pushed her hair behind her ears and looked at him slightly bemused. "If you turned down karaoke, do you have something else planned?" She asked and Zoro grinned almost showing fangs,

"Well, if you're up for it. I might have other plans..."


End file.
